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About

Traditional Chinese Dancer in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge

The National Foundation for Australia-China Relations is an Australian Government initiative. We are a national platform to promote and coordinate enhanced cooperation between Australia and China in support of Australia’s national interests.

We do this by strengthening risk-informed engagement with China in Australia’s national interest, and reinforcing social cohesion by engaging Chinese-Australians, showcasing their contribution and strengthening their voice and agency.  Our work covers mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Our work

The Foundation’s work is focussed on four key areas:

  • Improving China capability
  • Practical cooperation in Australia’s interests
  • Supporting dialogue and exchange
  • Enabling our diverse communities. 

We have partnerships across Australia to advance this work, including activities supported through our annual competitive grants program as well as programs we run such as targeted training and capability initiatives. 

The Foundation also delivers major events. It hosts an annual televised Wang Gungwu lecture on the contributions of diverse Chinese-Australians to Australia, held in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.  It also co-hosts with the Chinese People’s Institute for Foreign Affairs the Australia-China High Level Dialogue, which brings together representatives from government and beyond (such as industry, academia, media and the arts) to progress discussions across the breadth of Australia and China’s relationship. 

Our Leaders

Our staff is drawn from a range of sectors, with extensive experience in mainland China, Hong Kong and/or Taiwan, including foreign, trade and investment policy, industry, community engagement and public diplomacy. 

Portrait of Ms Pru Bennett
Ms Pru Bennett

Chairman

Gary Cowan web portrait resized
Mr Gary Cowan

Chief Executive Officer

Our Advisory Board

Our Advisory Board provides advice to the Foundation on ways to deepen cooperation with China. Headed by Ms Pru Bennett, the board has demonstrated expertise in business, academia, government, media, the arts and science.

Rowan Callick
Mr Rowan Callick OBE

Mr Callick is an Industry Fellow at Griffith University’s Asia Institute, an Expert Associate at the National Security College, ANU, and vice chair of the Australia Taiwan Business Council. He was the Beijing-based China correspondent of The Australian for two terms, following 20 years with The Australian Financial Review including as China correspondent based in Hong Kong. Mr Callick has written three books on contemporary China, published in both English and Chinese.

Yin Cao
Ms Yin Cao

Ms Cao is the curator of Chinese art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. She is a board member of the newly established Museum of Chinese in Australia (MOCA) in Sydney. Ms Cao studied and worked as an art and museum management professional in China, the US, Japan and Singapore. She trained as an archaeologist at Harvard University and Peking University.

Wesa Chau
Ms Wesa Chau

Ms Chau is CEO of Cultural Intelligence, a research, training and consulting firm helping organisations harness the power of cultural diversity. She has served on the Multicultural Business Ministerial Council and the Ministerial Council for Women’s Equality and is an experienced director on boards. Ms Chau has received several awards for her contribution to the community, including the prestigious Victorian International Education Internationalisation Award in 2016 and was a 40 under 40 Most Influential Asian Australian in 2020.

Courtney Fung
Dr Courtney Fung

Dr Fung is an Associate Professor in the Department of Security Studies & Criminology at Macquarie University. She is concurrently a Non-Resident Fellow at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University and at the Lowy Institute. Dr Fung has previously held positions at the University of Hong Kong and with the Columbia-Harvard China in the World Programme.

Douglas Gautier
Mr Douglas Gautier AM

Mr Gautier is the CEO and Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival Centre, where he has worked to position the Centre as a hub for Asian-Australian cultural engagement. He is Chair of the Association of Asia Pacific Performing Arts Centres and the Board of Global Cultural Districts Network and is a Deputy Chancellor of Flinders University. Mr Gautier was founding Vice-Chairman of the Asian Arts Festival Association and a board member of the Asian Cultural Council (Rockerfeller Foundation).

Marina Go
Ms Marina Go AM

Ms Go is an experienced Director who serves as Chair of Adore Beauty. She is also a non-executive director of Energy Australia, Transurban and the Australian Institute of Company Directors and serves on the governing committee of the Australian Republic Movement. Ms Go is a former Chair of the Walkley Foundation, Ovarian Cancer Australia, Netball Australia and the West Tigers NRL club and has previously worked at Fairfax and Bauer Media.

Jade Little
Dr Jade Little

Dr Little is the Chair of the Australia China Youth Dialogue, a track two dialogue for emerging leaders in the Australia-China relationship, and a past participant in the Australia-China High Level Dialogue. Dr Little is currently Chief Advisor to the Chief Operating Officer at Newmont Corporation. She previously worked for BHP, UBS and McKinsey & Company. She was The Australian Financial Review BOSS Young Executive of the Year in 2019.

Sharon Lewin
Professor Sharon Lewin AO

Professor Lewin is an infectious diseases physician and is the inaugural Director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity. Her research focuses on finding a cure for HIV. She is the President of the International AIDS Society. She also co-chairs the National COVID Health and Research Advisory Committee and has overseen important medical research collaboration with China.

Duncan Lewis
Professor Duncan Lewis AO DSC CSC

Professor Lewis is a former Director General of Security, ASIO, Secretary of the Department of Defence and Australia’s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg, the EU and NATO. Mr Lewis is a retired Major General of the Australian Army. He served as the Australian National Security Adviser to two Prime Ministers. He was appointed as the Professor in the Practice of National Security at the ANU National Security College in June 2021.

Mark McGowan AC
Mark McGowan AC

Mark McGowan AC was the Member for Rockingham from December 1996 until June 2023, when he stepped down as the Premier of Western Australia. He became Premier in March 2017 and during his term held various other portfolios, including Treasurer and Minister for State Development, Jobs and Trade. Mr McGowan currently holds advisory roles with BHP Limited, Mineral Resources Limited, APM Services International Ltd and Bondi Partners. Earlier in his career, Mr McGowan served as a Legal Officer in the Royal Australian Navy. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland.

McGregor Portrait
Mr Richard McGregor

Mr McGregor is a Senior Fellow for East Asia at the Lowy Institute. He is a former Beijing, Shanghai and Washington bureau chief for The Financial Times and was posted in Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong for Australian media outlets. He was also a visiting scholar at the Wilson Center and George Washington University in Washington DC from 2014-2016. Mr McGregor has authored a number of highly acclaimed books on China and East Asia, most notably The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers.

Rory Portrait
Professor Rory Medcalf AM

Professor Rory Medcalf is Head of the National Security College at ANU. He has three decades of experience across diplomacy, intelligence analysis, think tanks, academia and journalism. In government, Professor Medcalf worked as a senior strategic analyst with the Office of National Assessments. He was also an Australian diplomat, with experience in India, Japan and Papua New Guinea, and he continues to lead informal strategic dialogues with a range of Indo-Pacific powers. Under his leadership, the National Security College has become a go-to institution for whole-of-nation capability development and policy contestability. In 2022 he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for services to international relations and tertiary education.

Alice Pung
Alice Pung OAM

Alice Pung OAM is a Melbourne-based writer and lawyer, and an Adjunct Professor at RMIT University's School of Media and Communication. She is the author of the bestselling books that have been published internationally, and translated into Italian, German, Indonesian and Chinese. Her books are studied in schools and universities in Australia and abroad. In 2022, Alice was awarded an Order of Australia Medal for services to literature.

Brian Schimdt
Professor Brian Schmidt AC

Professor Schmidt has been the Vice-Chancellor of the ANU since 2016. Winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics, Professor Schmidt was an astrophysicist at the ANU Mount Stromlo Observatory and Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics before becoming Vice-Chancellor. Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, The United States Academy of Science, and the Royal Society, he was made a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2013.

 

Jan Adams
Ms Jan Adams AO PSM (Ex officio)

Jan Adams AO PSM was appointed Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on 1 July 2022. Prior to this, Ms Adams was Australia’s Ambassador to Japan from November 2020 to June 2022 and before that Australia’s Ambassador to China from 2016 to 2019.

From April 2013 to 2016, Ms Adams was Deputy Secretary with responsibility for trade and economic issues. In this role she oversaw Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement negotiations and the conclusion of free trade agreements with China, Korea and Japan. She previously led the department’s Free Trade Agreement Division.

Ms Adams served as Ambassador for the Environment and Ambassador for Climate Change between 2005 and 2008 and as Minister Counsellor (Trade) in Washington from 2000 to 2004.

Ms Adams joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 1999 as Assistant Secretary, APEC Branch.

From 1993 to 1996, Ms Adams was an Adviser to the Minister for Trade and Minister for Industry, Science and Technology. She also previously worked in the OECD secretariat in Paris (Trade and Environment Directorates) and at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

In 2016, Ms Adams was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to international relations through the advancement of Australia's diplomatic and free trade relationships, particularly with the United States of America, South Korea, Japan and China.  In 2007, she was awarded the Public Service Medal (PSM) for outstanding public service in pursuing Australia's international objectives on trade and the environment.

Ms Adams holds Honours degrees in Economics and Law from Monash University and is a Distinguished Alumni Award recipient. She grew up in Wodonga, Victoria and is married with one adult son.

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Acknowledgement of country

The National Foundation for Australia-China Relations acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia, and their continuing connection to land, waters and community. We pay our respects to all First Nations peoples, their cultures and to their Elders, past, present and emerging.

Contact

contact@austaliachinafoundation.org.au

+61 2 6178 6888